Page 46 of In the Danger Zone
“Hey, I used to fall all the time when I first started skating. My dad was a hockey player, though. Guess it’s just genetics or something. Don’t feel too bad.”
Keeping my arms around Evan so I wouldn’t fall over, I looked up so I could meet his eyes. “Wait, you n-never told m-me that.”
“My dad played for the Falcons back in the day. Won three Stanley Cups,” Evan said with a fond smile. “He actually met my mom at a hockey game. She was rooting for the other team…”
“I b-bet they’re so proud that you’re following in your dad’s footsteps. Do you wanna play for the same team as your dad?”
Evan shook his head. “That’d be cool, but I don’t wanna start my career the way my dad did. I just wanna be me, you know? People hear my last name and they think I had everything handed to me. But I had to work hard. I didn’t get on this team just ‘cause of who my dad is.”
“I get it.” I held Evan a little tighter. “You’re the b-best player on the team. I know I say that as someone who only just started watching hockey, b-but still…”
Laughing, Evan gave me a kiss to the top of my head. “I appreciate it, anyway.”
“Tell m-me m-more about your family,” I said. That was a part of Evan we had never really touched on. I knew he was amazing at hockey, that he went to some fancy private school. But what was underneath all of that? “What are they like?”
Evan moved his hands so he was holding just one of mine, giving me a slow pull away from his DIY net. We began to glide around slowly, the sound of our skates scratching at the ice in the air.
“Well, my mom was a real estate agent,” Evan explained. “She only just retired. She used to work with a lot of old money families back home. The mayor and all that. But the big thing for her is family. Every weekend we’d have some big dinner with all my cousins and aunts and uncles. She loves that kinda stuff. She’d love you too, actually.”
Butterflies flew around in my stomach when he said that. “What’s your dad like?”
“Well, like I said, he used to play hockey. Was one of the best players in the league. He retired after his third championship and did some coaching with the Falcons for a little while,” Evan said, that warm tone still right there in his voice. “He’s a good guy. He could be a little tough on me, but I appreciated it in the long run.”
My eyebrows rose a little. So, Evan came from a fancy real estate agent and a professional hockey player. No wonder he went to some expensive private school. Money clearly wasn’t an issue for him and his family. I wasn’t judging him for that. It was just entirely different to where I came from.
“He calmed down a lot when we moved away from Saint Paul and over to North Oaks, though,” Evan continued. “When he stepped playing hockey.”
“What’s N-North Oaks like?” I wondered, not too well versed on Minnesota geography.
“Uh…” Evan drew the word out. “Nice.”
“Just n-nice?”
“Okay, fancy.”
“You m-mean rich?” I smiled, feeling Evan hold my hand a little firmer as he guided me along the ice.
“Some would call it rich. A lot, actually. Yeah, it’s a rich area. I won’t lie. Lots of lawyers and businessmen and politicians.”
“Sounds expensive.”
“It is. I definitely can’t complain.”
“Do your parents come to your games?”
Evan nodded. “When they can. It gets busy back home, but my mom and dad come down when they have spare time. Especially dad. He loves a good hockey game. But what about your parents. What are they like?”
My heart ached a tiny bit at the thought of my parents. I missed them too much. They didn’t want me to move so far away, but one of the best things about keeping a long distance between me and my home was the freedom. Not freedom fromthem. No. Freedom from Asher and his cruel world. But that had followed me.
“They’re b-bakers,” I said softly, feeling a little ashamed when comparing my own background with Evan’s. We were two very, very different people.
“Man, that takes skill.” Evan chuckled. “They must be busy.”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah.” Oh, God. I was lying to a guy I really, really liked. It was bad. I knew it was bad even as I said the singular word. But Evan came from money. Unemployed parents struggling to get by was a foreign concept to him. I couldn’t even explainwhythey were unemployed in the first place.
“Is it a big bakery?”
“Um, it’s a s-small one. It’s in Great Falls. That’s where I’m from. I used to help out there every now and then. It’s just a small place. N-Nothing fancy like your parents…”
